We are focusing our study on mushrooms in the genus Cortinarius that have a symbiotic association with the roots of trees. Our specimens are from an Oregon White Oak forest located in the Columbia River Gorge, Washington. The Cortinarius species associated with Oregon White Oak form a unique combination of species in comparison to those in conifer forests from the Pacific Northwest. Cortinarius species from Oregon White Oak strands do not reproduce every year, consequently the data we have from Oregon White Oak strands collected over a period of three years provides a special opportunity to study these unique species. We have multiple collections of a large number of species, and it is likely that many of them will be new to science. DNA sequences of the ITS-28S gene regions are being used to determine species diversity and the relationships among species. Molecular analyses provide an excellent tool for studying relationships among mushroom species and will allow us to catalogue the diversity of the oak associated species in the Pacific Northwest. This project is part of a larger study of Cortinarius in the Northern Hemisphere.

Ozone in surface air is toxic to both humans and plants, and has negative implications to human health and crop yields. Surface ozone is enhanced by anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, which are a direct result of fuel combustion and other industrial activities. Yet, the highest concentrations of ozone in California are often observed in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, some 50-100 kilometers from the urban plumes of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. How anthropogenic emissions affect ozone in areas strongly influenced by biogenic emissions remains a critical question in our understanding of air quality, with implications for control strategies. To examine these issues we are using data from two multi-year atmospheric chemistry field measurement campaigns: CALNEX SJV and BEARPEX. CALNEX SJV took place in 2010 near Bakersfield, CA, an area heavily influenced by urban and agricultural emissions. The BEARPEX 2007 and 2009 campaigns took place in Blodgett Forest, CA, a rural forested area primarily influenced by biogenic emissions. We are quantifying the extent to which anthropogenic emissions of hydrocarbons affect ozone production in these two regimes by performing a statistical analysis of a unique set of chemical indicators, acyl peroxynitrates, or APN. APN are produced in the atmosphere during the photochemical degredation of hydrocarbons that leads to ozone production. APN carry a fingerprint of an anthropogenic or biogenic hydrocarbon precursor. Through linear combination modeling of ozone using various APN compounds and trend analysis along independent axes such as temperature and day of week, we estimate the relative importance of anthropogenic and biogenic hydrocarbons. Moreover, by comparing data from these two sites, we provide a much broader understanding of such effects in both rural and urban areas.

Over the past few decades the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has emerged as a prominent model for aging research. One method for measuring aging in yeast is to determine the replicative life span (RLS) of mother cells, defined as the number of daughter cells produced prior to irreversible cell cycle arrest. The Kaeberlein Lab Dissection Team has measured RLS for hundreds of thousands of yeast mother cells over the past few years. In addition to RLS, we have also recently began recording the budding pattern at end of life as an additional phenotype of interest since these mutations have been known to lead to irregular cell cycle regulation. 4 different categories are used to define the terminal morphology of yeast cells: unbudded (U), small bud (S), long bud (L), and clumped (C). From the data gathered thus far, a positive correlation has been made between the terminal budding pattern of cells with reduced RLS compared to their unbudded counterparts. Meaning contructs that stop replicating mid cell cycle (S, L, or C) live shorter lives. We speculate that genomic instability contributes to terminal arrest in the budded state, but further research needs to be conducted to confirm this theory. It will also be of interest to determine how specific genetic defects lead to altered frequencies of the 4 different terminal morphologies and their relationship to replicative life span.

The study of chronological and replicative aging in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has provided both post-mitotic and mitotic aging models in this single-celled organism. In chronological aging, lifespan is determined by the length of time a yeast cell can survive in a non-dividing state, whereas in replicative aging, the lifespan is determined by the number of daughter cells produced by a mother cell prior to irreversible cell cycle arrest. The primary goals of this study were to observe how the chronological aging of yeast cells influences replicative lifespan (RLS) and to determine whether changes in the extracellular environment that influence chronological lifespan (CLS) would also influence subsequent RLS. By buffering the pH of the medium to 6.0 or reducing the concentration of available glucose (dietary restriction), we show that these manipulations were able to suppress the reduction in RLS associated with chronological aging, when compared with cells aged in synthetic complete medium with 2% glucose. The production of ethanol and acetic acid due to yeast fermentation may be responsible for cellular damage leading to reduced RLS, and it can be inferred that by buffering the pH to 6.0 or dietary restricting the cells, this damage is attenuated and replicative capacity is increased following chronological aging.

Storm water pollution is a growing problem for the people of the Puget Sound. When contaminants are released into our environment they collect in storm drains and, for the most part, flow untreated into our precious streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Contaminants like copper from brake dust, nutrients from fertilizers, and detergents from washing cars, can cause adverse problems to the aquatic life in these water bodies. “Low Impact Development” designs like rain gardens and bio-retention systems are a viable option to reduce harmful effects, by filtering out many of the pollutants before they enter our aquatic systems. In order to improve the performance of rain gardens we propose adding various waste products from other treatment processes which have the potential to remove common storm water contaminants. In this research, we compared various soil mixes commonly used in systems with various amendments such as “Lodge Pole Pine and Water Treatment Residual (WTR)” to determine their ability to capture heavy metals and nutrients. To test the amended soil mixes we designed a series of columns packed with these mixes, saturated the columns with synthetic storm water, and monitored the concentrations of pollutants in the influent and effluent to determine contaminant removal capabilities. The constituents tested in this experiment include hydrologic conductivity, forms of Nitrogen and Phosphorus along with metals such as Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Nickel and Zinc. Our preliminary results have been very promising, with our WTR amendments showing an improvement of up to approximately 20% reduction in both total and dissolved forms of phosphorus and up to a 10% reduction in metals over standard soil mixes.

 The research conducted by the Kaeberlein Lab is focused on identifying conserved longevity genes in evolutionarily divergent model organisms. The research methods discussed here concentrate particularly on the mechanism of aging in budding yeast. Aging in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was described more than fifty years ago with the observation that mother cells produce a finite number of daughter cells and then cease replication. Our poster describes the method utilized in our lab for quantifying replicative lifespan. In short, individual yeast cells are grown on solid media and monitored from their initial undivided state until they undergo senescence. Mother cells that produce more daughter cells are defined as having a longer replicative lifespan. Over the past several years, we have measured replicative lifespan on several hundred thousand mother cells, resulting in the identification of dozens of genes that modulate aging in yeast.  By identifying these genes and determining their mechanism of action it may be possible to one day develop therapies that delay the onset of aging and age-related disorders in people. 

This study investigates the impact of success or failure of a university’s marquee sports programs on student academic success. I analyzed data from schools in four National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I athletic conferences each having both of the money-generating sports programs, football and men's basketball. I am interested in determining whether the success or failure of a school’s teams affects student performance, both among student athletes and among the general student body. Anecdotal evidence and some prior studies indicate that student performance can suffer when a school team does well, but this effect is short-term. This study looks at short-term as well as more long-term measures of academic success as measured by overall graduation rates for undergraduates and graduation measures used by the NCAA and the US federal government, to track student athlete academic success. I also consider associations with other covariates such as school size (number of enrolled undergraduate students), school location, public vs. private institutions, racial make-up of the school and regional location, on the afore mentioned relationships. I expect these relationships to be different for small schools than for large schools. My hypothesis is that student-athletes as a group have higher graduation rates than the general student population and in larger schools student-athletes are less affected by athletic results than the general student body.